Bermuda 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup Americas Qualifiers opponents USA have announced their team for the tournament set to take place in Antigua.
Indian born Monank Patel has been named the USA's new T20 captain cafter 50-over captain, Indian-born Saurabh Netravalkar, requested the opportunity to focus fully on his bowling in the shortest format of the game.
USA men's selection chairman Michael Voss said in a press statement. "Netravalkar had done that with great success during the recent Minor League Cricket competition and the selection panel were fully supportive of his decision."
There were also recalls for four players, including Xavier Marshall and Ali Khan, who has made himself available after a two-year absence, as he pursued opportunities on the T20 franchise circuit.
Pakistan born Ali Khan's return to the USA set-up was foreshadowed on his social media accounts in recent weeks, as he replaced his profile pictures - which had previously showed him wearing his Trinbago Knight Riders kit - with images of his best moments playing for USA. He has not played for USA since the last day of WCL Division Two in Namibia in April 2019, where he finished as the tournament's leading wicket-taker to help USA secure ODI status. He had been included in USA's squad for the same regional T20 Qualifier event in Bermuda in August 2019, but suffered a sprained ankle at a training session on the eve of the first match and didn't take the field for USA as they suffered an embarrassing string of results, losing four matches to Canada and Bermuda to fall short of advancing to the T20 global qualifier in the UAE.
Former West Indies cricketer and Jamaican born Marshall is one of the other four players recalled, giving him a chance to atone for his worst tour for USA at the corresponding event in Bermuda. The 35-year-old scored 55 runs in five innings against Bermuda, Canada and Cayman Islands before he was dropped for the last match of the tour. His last appearances for USA came in the February 2020 ODI tour of Nepal, where he scored 54 runs in four innings as USA went winless. His recall came after he finished in the top-ten scorers playing for Somerset (NJ) Cavaliers in the MiLC, finishing with 542 runs in 15 innings with a century and five fifties.
The other two recalled players were fast bowler South African born Rusty Theron - who had withdrawn from USA's recent ODI tour of Oman due to personal commitments - and Ian Holland, who was similarly unavailable for the tour of Oman due to his English County cricket commitments at Hampshire. Both players have yet to make their T20I debuts for USA.
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